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Monday, July 07, 2014

Police work the scene of a double-shooting behind the tennis courtsnear Addison and Lake Shore Drive early Sunday morning.

One thing's for sure, our neighborhood's rampant street crime did not take a holiday this weekend.

• Two men were shot in a parking lot north of Belmont Harbor early Sunday morning, the second shooting here in a week and the fourth known gang-related shooting incident here since May 11. Another man was stabbed outside of Wrigley Field early Sunday.

• At least 6 people were beaten and robbed in Wrigleyville and Boystown this weekend, most recently at 4:30 Monday morning near Halsted and Addison. Three of the victims were attacked early yesterday morning, one in Boystown, one in Wrigleyville, and one on Addison slightly west of Wrigleyville. Two more were victimized Friday evening and early Saturday.

Also notable is an increase in bonafide calls of gang activity along Belmont Avenue between Halsted and Sheffield.

19 comments:

Doesn't the area around the clock tower and the Waveland Tennis courts close at 11PM? If that is the case, doesn't the CPD have the right to question/ search individuals found loitering in the area (aka these gang scumbags) after that time? What am I missing here?

And re: the CPD's alleged inability to 'move people along' from the Belmont area....this is crap IMO. A few years ago, there was a St Patrick's Day that had temps in the 80s. People were out on their porches (private property, keep in mind) until the wee hours of the night. CPD cars went up and down the streets in Wrigleyville telling people to wrap it up and disperse. Apparently non-resident loser gang bangers are afforded higher privileges in our zip code. But hey, I'm sure l'il Tommy Tunney is all over this issue.

A lot has changed in Police Dept. They have hatted the last two Supers who both dismantle a functioning dept. They feel now there damned if they do and damed if they don't. Plus all the people complain when they do their job. You got the police you wanted.

I was wondering the same thing regarding the parks closing at 11pm. There is no reason the cops can't stop and question or at least dispearse people in the park after 11pm. My God, if I left my car there after 11:00, I'd be ticketed and God knows what else.

Debbie, you should just change your name to downer because all's you ever do is complain. Here are facts... Remember NATO? Well those losers sued the city for arresting them for being in the parks after hours, said it was retaliatory and guess what? They won. From that decision (which the city didn't attempt to go to a higher court) most officers wont risk their homes to arrest people in the parks anymore... The courts spoke the city said ok, the officers who followed the laws on the books were left out to hang... And Debbie no, that isn't why they became the police, they didn't come on to lose their homes (and yes it does happen). Another major reason cops aren't over there enforcing anything is THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH POLICE TO GET THERE! they are busy answering jobs!

So according to Anonymous, we should just let them do as they please, break laws, shoot up the park...whatever. My God, we may trample their "rights" to terrorize our neighborhood. Geez. Maybe the lawmakers need to give the police more teeth. I want them to be able to do their job w/o them getting sued for BS reasons.

Yes, I'm aware that there are not enough police, and we all need to demand more cops are hired. I'm not sure how to do this, but some on this sight have been talking about marching....something...anything.

Don't mean to be a downer.....but unfortunately, the situation is pretty depressing. Maybe if we try to work together we can come up with a solution. In the meantime, I think CWB is a great place for folks to share their ideas, and yes....even their frustrations. Hopefully, this blog will be the start of some real change. And I'm pretty positive that it will be!

I really hate the "you got the police you wanted" phrase that officers throw out. It's infuriating and it just shows the disconnect between citizens and police and is insulting. Sure, we're to blame. All of us are "liberals" and "hate police." Gee, thanks a lot.

100% agree. This blog is proof that all north siders (even those that identify as liberal) should not be typecast. Just like i dont teach my children to stereotype all members of CPD through their interactions with those officers whose own peers call out as lazy dogs or merit promoted. it seems hypocritical and segregating for the police to take that attitude, and makes it hard to garner sympathy towards them at times. I suspect many others feel the same way, I just hope that they have the ability to look beyond the behavior and see the multitude of reasons for it.

With all of that said I would like to thank all the CPD, CFD and all other first responders. Your sacrifice each day is appreciated by this family.

You did get the police you wanted! The general population wanted a kinder gentler police who smile and wave and pass out coloring books to kids. People elected our politicians into office who decided to implement CAPS and other programs that have, in effect, made the police department report writers and little else. I have decades on the job and can tell you just about every decision made since I came on limited or completely nullified police power.

Just as an example parking ticket writing, now civilianized, used to be a must to write 5 Parker's a day, no excuse not to. Now most watches as a whole only come in with a total of a Parker a tour. Yes I know no one likes to get a parking ticket but do you know what those tickets did other than generate money? They showed criminals that the beat cop tours their beat.. Those big orange tickets show everyone where the police have been, now no one cares...

It's sad what once was a valiant and fun job in the service of this city it was... I still try every day but it gets harder and harder as they handcuff us more and more...

I'm confused and maybe someone can clarify things for me. Anonymous says, "most officers wont risk their homes to arrest people in the parks anymore." Every company I've worked for, and every non-profit I've volunteered with, has liability insurance that shields me -- the employee -- from lawsuits except in the case of egregious wrongdoing. How do police officers lose their homes simply by virtue of arresting someone in a park after dark? If lawsuits completely discourage officers from doing a basic requirement of their job, shouldn't there be some basic regulatory protections that shield the individual officers from lawsuits?

There aren't. Liberal court practices side with the bad guys and the cops are always the fall guys. There used to be a Disorderly Conduct ordinance that allowed cops to lock up loiterers, etc. You know, like those groups on Halsted and Belmont & Sheffield. Until some judge said it wasn't lawful. Cops got in trouble with civil rights suits and the city paid out tens of millions in settlements. Now the crowds linger freely on the streets. Lock up people on the lakefront and soon some judge will rule that park curfew is 1st amendment violation - like loitering - and the lawsuits will fly, the city will settle, the cops will take the brunt of suspension time and punitive damages, and you'll be able to be victimized along the lakefront 24 hrs per day.

The city is on the hook for most of the bill in lawsuits yes (read into that the taxpayers are on the hook), but now most attorneys also sue the officers for punitive damages. In federal courts that usually means freezing an officers bank accounts, screwing with their credit, putting the home on as an asset. Even if the officer is found not guilty of his charges they still have to go through all those steps, and sometimes they have to pay, sometimes maybe even as low as a thousand dollars. But realistically which one if you are willing to pay a thousand dollars out if your pocket for doing your job?

It's important to note here too many of these charges are run through politically connected law firms, you know ones with ties to aldermen and mayors... Do the math... They bring suit against the city, city settles and firm gets paid with our tax dollars. If you see the makings of a scam so do most officers...

Legally speaking the police do enjoy some immunity. However when it comes to excessive force that is no longer valid. But excessive force isn't cut and dry depending on the situation. I'm sure police can elaborate on what they consider excessive (both personally and what is against CPD regulations.) but since CPD is undermanned they can't train as well as they should and probably aren't kept up to date on legal issues. So that puts the officer at personal risk.

Say an officer uses a taser against a drunk who is throwing things. Clearly the drunk is an issue. The officer tells them to stop and they refuse. The officer says stop or I will taser you. Drunk doesn't, so he gets tased. Seems pretty much cut and dry, right? Well questions will be asked about taser training and CPD's policy on when tasers can be used. If the officer doesn't follow policy 100% they are potentially at risk.

This also begs the question: if doctors can get malpractice insurance why not police?

Jen - See my post above, CWB graciously printed the "why" that Anonymous is alluding to in reply to your post. From the wayback machine: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-06-18/news/9906180408_1_loitering-law-police-officers-supreme-court

All who read this post agree that crime has increased in our neighborhoods over the past few years. Where some disagree is why, and how to fix it.

The map in the link below shows where the shootings and murders took place this weekend, and what it shows is that gun violence is clustered in the South and West Sides, not on the North Side. Of course this factual statement leads to many other questions.

For me, what this map shows is a couple of things. First, the police leadership is right in focusing on the highest crime areas of Chicago. We may not like it, but it is the right thing to do.

But this leads to my second and more important point. We simply do not have enough police officer in the City of Chicago. We need to saturate the violent crime corridors, the lakefront and Mag Mile...and have enough officers left to go after it in all the neighborhoods in the city that are experiencing increases in "lesser" crimes...ours leading the way, perhaps.

We on the North Side recognize the need to not have weekends like the one just past. Even though most all of the crime steered clear of our neighborhoods, the now-international news that our Chicago crime spree has caused does nothing good for any of us. We live here and work here, and when tourists or conventions run from Chicago because our crime issues are making news in Europe, it is bad for all of us.

So yes, CPD needs to deploy where crime is worst, and where intelligence talks of mob actions (lakefront and Mag Mile)...and in all the neighborhoods where we need more CPD officers.

To those of you who would rather make snarky criticisms, I propose that you all go a reread CWB's post-Pride recommendation post and work on being part of the solve to the problems we face throughout the city.

The shooting of 82 people over 4 days, 16 of them dead, is more than a crime wave, it is anarchy. It may have been among the worst few days but clearly it reflects the mayhem that continues to make the city far more dangerous than NYC or other cities which have many of the same sociological dynamics as Chicago. The Mayor needs to hire more police and they need to be well trained. While we do need to concentrate police in high crime areas, denuding other areas of police protection in the process has the effect of dispersing, and not even that very effectively, rather than reducing crime.

It seems to me that the whole structure of law enforcement and justice is failing. The jails are overcrowded. Judges are reluctant to add to the overcrowding even when sentencing repeat offenders of violent crimes. The police are expected to risk their lives to make arrests that do not have the intended effect of taking criminals off the street. They are undermanned and operating in a a damned if I do and damned if I don't environment. We badly need more police on the street but also we need more efforts public and private to prevent criminal gangs from forming, more opportunities for constructive activities for youngsters and better tactics for preventing kids from being coerced into joining them. Right now, there is no coherent citywide strategy to reduce crime. Falsifying crime statistics, finger pointing and simply dispersing gangs or moving them from from neighborhood to another is not a crime reduction strategy. Nor is an undermanned police department. I think all those involved in law enforcement including judges in criminal courts, the Mayor, law schools , the police, parole officers and private groups working with youth need to be engaged in a coordinated effort to develop long term solutions as well as slowing the immediate carnage. The city will need more resources than they have now which I know will mean higher taxes and some budget cuts in other areas. The Mayor has big problems but he needs to focus on constructively addressing these problems as well as spending full time fund raising.